solarpunk memes

If fascists could read they'd be very upset

They like him because they want to LARP as a reckless, vengeance seeking gunslinger who eliminates anyone who they feel has wronged them or who is "wrong". As in so many other circumstances, they've missed the point and the intended message.

The punisher is a murdering lawless maniac but I don't think he's a fascist, is he?

Last time I went through US customs the agent checking me had his backpack behind him with a punisher patch (plus a thin blue line one, because of course he did). Gotta use true fashy believers to check all them damn immigrants and all that...

The way they cropped it, they leave out the best part. Here's the full interaction. 4 pages from Punisher #13:

He's definitely a lawless murderer, and the types of cops that display his insignia certainly seem to lean fascist, but what makes the Punisher fascist?

Here's the full comic scene so you don't need to skim through the whole article to get the bits and pieces of it.

There's a saying I first heard from cops in my country and then later saw pop up in several TV shows, the last one clear in memory being The Rookie.

The saying embodies that whenever cops decide to group together to the point of getting a symbol or name for said group, it's only a matter of time before they go to jail.

In corrupt countries, they may not actually go to jail, but the point is that whenever cops do this, criminality will always ensue.

The image is kind of wrong. The punisher does not hate cops. He doesn’t like cops that celebrate what he does.

I have read a lot of punisher over the years, and the thing that always infuriates me is how much handwringing there is by some of the writers that always ends up backsliding into “but it’s still pretty cool that he murders people with his super cool guns and a skull on his chest.” The only way to truly break from that image is to completely abandon who the punisher is and enter a new phase entirely that does not regress again. It needs to be like God of War 4. Kratos is not the same person he once was. Yes he is capable of violence, but he clearly does not relish it and does everything he can to avoid conflict as well as truly tries to teach his son that actions have consequences. He has had a spiritual change, essentially, and it is reflected in his actions and demeanor. No, he has not mastered it, no it is not perfect, but he is consistently trying to be better and grow. I cannot say the same for Frank Castle. It always becomes “…but I have to” when he’s barely tried anything else as he then instigates conflict.

Brief moments of “the punisher is actually kind of bad y’all“ that is always surrounded by constant firearm fetishization and glorifying murder/masculinity is just not convincing. No amount of little moments of clarity can fix that.

I saw a Don't Tread on Me sticker right next to a Thin Blue Line sticker the other day (on the back of a giant fuck-off Ford truck, of course) and was like "that dude needs to make up his fuckin' mind."

It's like all those non-Catholic Christians who display Crusader symbols. They are forgetting that the Crusaders would have murdered believers like them in a heartbeat. Plus the Crusaders probably killed more Christians than Muslims and Jews, since the Muslim conquerors would force the local Christian population to fight on their side.

Is he fascist?

I don't read a lot of punisher comics.

To be perfectly clear about my experience with this character, I have watched the thomas jane punisher movie, which is a straight up vengeance movie.

But I never got the impression the punisher was fascist.

He doesn't seem like a pro-dictatorship kind of guy.

Is he, in the comics?

The Punisher is a monster whose only redeeming feature is that he preys on those worse than him.

Cops are some of the biggest fan boys out there. The movie 'The French Connection*' inspired them to wear Popeye's hat and ankle holster. Magnum PI inspired them to grow mustaches. The TV show Hill Street Blues got them wearing turtlenecks.

*If you haven't seen it, watch 'The French Connection.' Great New York locations, Oscar winning actors, and one of the best car chases ever filmed.

Co-opting stuff isn’t about understanding.